Maharashtra crisis: Fadnavis gets 24-hour breather as SC reserves decision for 10:30 am on Tuesday

After hearing the arguments from all the parties involved, the Supreme Court has decided to announce its decision at 10:30 am on November 26. A three-judge bench of Justices NV Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna heard the matter on Monday with senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Kapil Sibal representing NCP and Shiv Sena respectively. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta represented the Centre while Mukul Rohatgi represented Devendra Fadnavis.

Singhvi stated that the tripartite alliance is happy to lose the floor test but BJP doesn't want one in the first place. "If BJP has majority, why is it worried? I am happy to lose on floor of Maha Assembly," he said.  He also placed on record that 154 MLAs have signed affidavits to pledge their support. Singhvi said that he has affidavits from 48 NCP MLAs, 56 Shiv Sena MLAs and 44 Congress MLAs.

The court also witnessed some high-octane drama between Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Kapil Sibal. Mehta asked how can the parties raise allegations against the Centre like this, to which Sibal replied, "We are filing an application with original affidavits from MLAs saying Ajit Pawar was not authorised to take a decision. Why are they objecting to floor test? There are precedents. There should be immediate floor test with senior-most MLA as pro-tem speaker."

As Supreme Court reserved its judgment for tomorrow, the NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena combine said that it is confident of a favourable decision tomorrow. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that once they go for the floor test, BJP will receive a sharp reply.

Also read: Maharashtra crisis: SC to take final call as Shiv Sena, Congress, NCP demand BJP's floor test

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